Chapter 128: The leaping sphere of flesh
After finishing eating curry with everyone, Vandalieu informed Iris and her companions about the reincarnated individuals with the exception of the now-destroyed Death Scythe, warning them to be careful.
Each person's name, the cheat-like abilities they possessed and the attributes of magic that they were proficient in. And what the reincarnated individuals had in common with each other.
Explaining that cheat-like abilities were like unique skills gave the inhabitants of Lambda a good idea of what they were. And it was convenient because no matter how impossible-seeming and outlandish the cheat-like abilities were, inhabitants of Lambda generally accepted it, saying, "That's the kind of unique skill it is," and, "It's a unique skill so there's nothing to think about."
This was because in the past, there had been newly-discovered unique skills that defied previously-existing reason and knowledge.
The reason Vandalieu had told them about the attributes of magic that the reincarnated individuals were proficient in was because he thought that if they were smart enough to keep their cheat-like abilities hidden rather than use them rashly like the 'Gungnir' Kanata had done, they would likely use magic.
Unlike Vandalieu, the reincarnated individuals apparently had the experience, knowledge and skills they possessed in Origin as skills from the moment they reincarnated in Lambda.
But if they were to be reincarnated in adult bodies, the thing that they would be relying on in addition to their cheat-like abilities was not martial skills, but magic.
The reincarnated individuals had received military training in Origin, and they had learned various combat techniques as well as how to use firearms. Kaidou Kanata had also possessed the Throwing and Unarmed Fighting Technique skills.
However, according to Legion, none of the Bravers who had died were masters in combat techniques.
They had reasonably high ability in military-style unarmed fighting and the use of knives, but most of them were simply at the level of "ordinary professionals." If converted to Lambda's skill levels, they would be mostly around level 5 or 6.
The only exceptions were apparently the 'Mage Masher' Minami Asagi and the 'Odin' Hasamada Aki.
As martial skills didn't exist in Origin, combat techniques were inferior to magic in all kinds of ways. This was especially true with the existence of modern weapons such as firearms and explosives.
Even so, masters of combat did exist in Origin, but… rather than aim to become such masters, the reincarnated individuals, having been given cheat-like abilities, had likely chosen to polish the use of their cheat-like abilities and magic.
And in Lambda, firearms and explosives didn't exist… The reincarnated individuals might become able to create gunpowder, but doing that would be equivalent to hanging up a sign that read, "Hi, I'm a reincarnated individual."
And according to Iris, a former believer of Alda, Alda's teachings stated that the champion Bellwood had forbidden the creation and use of a 'flammable black powder'… though not a single person had created such a powder in a hundred thousand years, so this was a taboo that had been all but forgotten, recorded in only the oldest, heaviest scriptures.
And although Rodcorte could grant reincarnated individuals the qualities and affinities for magic, he could not give them experience directly. If he could, there would have been no point in reincarnating them in Origin first.
That was why the reincarnated individuals wouldn't suddenly become new masters of elemental magic.
Thus, for the reincarnated individuals to take action without being able to rely on modern weapons or use martial skills, they had no choice but to use the elemental magic that they had been proficient with in Origin.
"But is there any purpose to knowing their names? Since they are being reborn, will they not be given new names?" Iris asked.
���That's a reasonable assumption, but that's only if they're reborn as babies," said Vandalieu. "If they come in adult bodies, their names should be the same as the ones they had in their previous lives. I've heard that it's not easy to change your name, too."
In Lambda, one couldn't simply follow a procedure and undergo a name change. The reason was that the name displayed on a person's Status was the one that was considered to be that person's real name.
And the identification papers that would be needed for long-term activity in Lambda required one's real name. Even if one were to talk their way into registering with a fake name, they would be found out once the Magic Item for issuing Guild cards was used.
Among the reincarnated individuals, there were some whose names had clearly changed since they lived in Japan, but… there wouldn't be anyone who would suddenly perceive themselves to have a different name without even being reborn as a baby.
"I see. But why won��t you tell us what their faces look like?" asked Debis.
"Their bodies and probably their races can be different. Also, their faces will be quite different depending on their age," Vandalieu said.
When he had gazed back at the 'Clairvoyance' Tendou Tatsuya with the Abyss skill, he had seen the general appearances of the reincarnated individuals while they were just souls.
He had been able to recognize them from Legion's information; it would have been impossible with only his memories from Earth.
That was the case even in Origin, where humans were the only race, but there was no telling how it would be in Lambda, where there were multiple different races.
It would still be alright if they were Elves, who had similar physiques to humans, but if they were reincarnated as Dwarves, who possessed quite different physiques, or even Beast-people who possessed the characteristics of beasts or Drakonids, it would certainly be impossible to identify them based on appearance alone.
The truth was that they couldn't be reincarnated as members of Vida's races due to them being a part of a different system from Rodcorte's, however.
"And the thing that the reincarnated individuals will have in common is that they won't be able to use No-Attribute Magic at first."
In Origin, time-attribute and no-attribute magic didn't exist. Even if Rodcorte granted the reincarnated individuals an affinity for time-attribute magic, there was no such thing as an affinity for no-attribute magic, so they would have to train from scratch in order to become able to use it, just as Vandalieu had done.
"In other words, we must be wary of those who possess unique skills that have the effects that we have information about and are proficient in certain attributes of magic, as well as those who cannot use no-attribute magic despite being able to use magic of the other attributes?" Iris concluded.
"That's right," said Vandalieu.
If the reincarnated individuals were to be reborn in adult bodies, they would have unknown personal histories. Despite that, they would possess skills at around level 5.
Unless they were extremely clever in their behavior, they would certainly stand out.
And the Sauron Duchy in which Iris and her companions were based was under the Amid Empire's occupation. Entering and exiting the duchy on the Orbaume Kingdom side was difficult, and only soldiers and merchants with passes were allowed in and out on the Amid Empire side.
Iris and her companions, who had the wide support of the people and even had informants inside the Empire's army, would be able to notice the presence of any reincarnated individuals.
"However, the reincarnated individuals should also notice that it is difficult to enter this region. I am unsure if we will be of any use…" Iris murmured.
"No, if you do notice them, you shouldn't try to capture them," said Vandalieu. "Secretly sending word to me will be enough. I'll be leaving Golems that you can use to contact me."
"No way, Your Majesty! We won't lose to them! No matter what unique skills they have, a bunch of guys who can't use martial skills will be a pushover! Isn't that right, everyone!" said Haj.
He and the others raised their fists, which were still holding their spoons, into the air to show their fighting spirit.
"No, that's not really the case," Vandalieu said, trying to calm them down.
"Calm down! Listen, those guys are really crazy, they're not opponents that you can match!" said Miles, his loud voice drowning out Vandalieu's. "Last night, Boss fought one of those reincarnated individuals and nearly died! You people just need to report information to him! Do you understand?!"
"What?! His Majesty almost died?!" Haj exclaimed. He and his companions opened their eyes wide in astonishment.
"No way, His Majesty… His Majesty, who still had room to breathe even while fighting the Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon… Kuh, indeed, as we are now, we would be able to do nothing but buy time," Iris murmured in frustration.
"… No, well, I did almost die, but…" Vandalieu felt like he was tricking them. It was true that his heartbeat and breathing had been stopped, and Zadiris and the others had been in a little danger as well.
"It's fine, isn't it? They're listening now. Lying is a means, too," Miles whispered with a wink so powerful that it was almost audible.
"I suppose you're right. It's true that the reincarnated individuals are really formidable enemies, too. Well then, I'll be applying Clairvoyance countermeasures to this base and then going back," Vandalieu said.
After that, Vandalieu carved strange patterns on the roof of the base and set up mysterious stone circles in its surroundings.
Having returned to Talosheim, Vandalieu headed for the usual Job-changing room.
Normally, participating in battles himself while increasing his level helped him progress with the acquisition of skills, but he'd been too busy this time, so he had been leaving a clone of himself nearby where Borkus was defeating Mikhail to leech Experience Points, and his Zombie Maker Job's level had reached 100.
"Setting up Clairvoyance countermeasures seems like it will take quite a lot of time, after all. I suppose it'll be stone circles in the marshlands of the Lizardmen and Scylla."
He had to spend time on countermeasures against the reincarnated individuals, but the reincarnated individuals were a new, powerful threat, so Vandalieu needed to become stronger to face them. It was all very troublesome.
『Jobs that can be selected:[Corpse Demon Commander][Disease Demon][Spirit Warrior] [Whip Tongue Calamity][Vengeful Berserker][Dead Spirit Mage][Dark Healer][Labyrinth Creator][Demon King User][Magic Cannoneer][Golem Creator][Dark King Mage][Divine Enemy][Dark Guider]』
When Vandalieu touched the crystal ball, the list of Jobs displayed in his consciousness had even more dangerous-sounding Jobs.
"Assuming Dark Guider is similar to Demon Guider… Can one person have multiple Guider Jobs? But Divine Enemy… If someone found out I had this Job, they'd immediately treat me as an evil being."
Though Vandalieu had recently built new relationships with gods, it was undoubtedly because of Rodcorte or perhaps Alda, the god of law and fate, that this Job had appeared.
… It could just be because he had destroyed Gubamon, however. No, it hadn't appeared when he changed Jobs to Zombie Maker after that, so it was because of Rodcorte after all.
Getting a hold of himself, Vandalieu chose the Job that he would change to.
"… I choose Golem Creator."
Considering the bonuses to his Attribute Values, the choice would have been Dark Guider, a Guider-type Job like Demon Guider. However, Vandalieu chose the Golem Creator Job that seemed like it would be related to Alchemy.
He had created Life Gold and Spirit Silver and successfully created two of Alchemy's three holy grails. He thought that if he could increase his Alchemy skill even further from this point, he could get closer to achieving Darcia's resurrection.
That, and the Golem Transmutation skill was certainly helpful.
『The levels of the Golem Transmutation and Alchemy skills have increased!』
『The Golem Transmutation skill has awakened to the Golem Creation skill!』
『The Carpentry, Engineering and Blacksmithing skills have fused with the Golem Creation skill!』
Name: Vandalieu
Race: Dhampir (Dark Elf)
Age: 9 years old
Title:[Ghoul King],[Eclipse King],[Second Coming of the Demon King],[Guardian of the Cultivation Villages],[Holy Son of Vida],[Monstrosity],[Scaled King][Tentacle King]
Job: Golem Creator
Level: 0
Job history: Death-Attribute Mage, Golem Transmuter, Undead Tamer, Soul Breaker, Venom Fist User, Insect User, Tree Caster, Demon Guider, Archenemy, Zombie Maker
Attributes:
Vitality: 2241
Mana: 1,082,220,588 (+324,666,176)
Strength: 996
Agility: 748
Stamina: 1053
Intelligence: 2225
Passive skills:
Superhuman Strength: Level 5
Rapid Healing: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Death-Attribute Magic: Level 10
Status Effect Resistance: Level 8
Magic Resistance: Level 6
Dark Vision
Demon Path Enticement: Level 2
Chant Revocation: Level 6
Guidance: Demon Path: Level 4
Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 6
Strengthen Subordinates: Level 7
Venom Secretion (Claws, Fangs, Tongue): Level 5
Enhanced Agility: Level 3
Body Expansion (Tongue): Level 5
Strengthened Attack Power while Unarmed: Large
Enhanced Physical Ability (Hair, Claws, Tongue, Fangs): Level 4
Thread Refining: Level 3
Mana Enlargement: Level 3
Active skills:
Bloodwork: Level 3
Surpass Limits: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Golem Creation: Level 1 (Awaked from Golem Transmutation!)
No-Attribute Magic: Level 8
Mana Control: Level 7
Spirit Form: Level 8
Carpentry: Level 6 → Combined with Golem Creation!
Engineering: Level 4 → Combined with Golem Creation!
Cooking: Level 5
Alchemy: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 6
Soul Break: Level 10 (LEVEL UP!)
Multi-Cast: Level 6
Long-distance Control: Level 7
Surgery: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 6
Materialization: Level 4
Coordination: Level 4
High-speed Thought Processing: Level 5
Commanding: Level 4
Plant Binding Technique: Level 5
Thread-reeling: Level 5
Throwing: Level 5
Scream: Level 4
Dead Spirit Magic: Level 5
Insect Binding Technique: Level 5
Blacksmithing: Level 1 → Combined with Golem Creation!
Artillery Technique: Level 4
Shield Technique: Level 1 (NEW!)
Armor Technique: Level 1 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
God Slayer: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
Grotesque Mind: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
Mental Encroachment: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Labyrinth Construction: Level 6
Demon King Fusion: Level 4
Abyss: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
Hostility
Demon King fragments:
Blood
Horns
Suckers
Ink Sacs
Carapace
Curses
Experience gained in previous life not carried over
Cannot learn existing jobs
Unable to gain experience independently
The announcer's voice echoed inside Vandalieu's head. His creation-type skills had suddenly fused with the Golem Creation skill, which seemed to be a superior version of the Golem Transmutation skill.
"Hmm…?"
Vandalieu was slightly bewildered. From previous experience, he knew that the skills that existed prior to skill fusion didn't disappear when they fused.
Thus, he was trying to test the skill out right away on the Death Iron of a throwing kunai that he was holding, but… the sensation was somewhat strange.
"I feel some discomfort, but there's no response from Danger Sense: Death… is it a problem with my Mana?"
When he tried to turn the Kunai into a Golem to change its shape, he could intuitively think of two different ways to do it. One was the usual method. The other was a method that would consume an amount of Mana that was an order of magnitude higher than the usual method.
"What is this sensation that feels like a million-yen corner has been built into a hundred-yen shop?"
Now that Vandalieu thought about it, was it best to create a one-Luna shop in Talosheim sometime? He wondered how profitable the hundred-yen shops of Earth had been. Talosheim had many nocturnal inhabitants, so the number of 24-hour retail stores was increasing, however.
With his thoughts going in strange directions, he turned the Death Iron kunai into a Golem with the normal method first.
The sensation and accuracy of the shape alteration was the same as always.
"Next, the large Mana consumption method…?!"
Vandalieu's Mana decreased by an enormous amount. Not by one million, but by a hundred million.
And then a kunai appeared in Vandalieu's palm and fell onto his foot with a heavy noise. Fortunately, it was made of liquid metal so it didn't pierce his foot, but… even though it was liquid, it was just as heavy as iron, so it was quite painful.
With watering eyes, Vandalieu looked at the kunai-shaped Death Iron that had appeared, which was now lying by his feet, and the Death Iron kunai whose shape he had altered by turning into a Golem.
"This is a result that seems like it would make Luciliano happy if he saw it."
Just as its title suggested, it seemed that the Golem Creation skill could create matter and use it as a Golem.
Up until now, Vandalieu had been unable to create Golems with Golem Transmutation without using pre-existing matter as materials. Even when he built structures, stone and lumber had been necessary materials.
However, the superior skill, Golem creation, could create matter from nothing.
It seemed that it used a large amount of Mana in return. Since Vandalieu needed over a hundred million Mana to create a single throwing kunai's worth of Death Iron, how much would he need to create the usual material-transporting Golems or fighting Golems?
However, if Vandalieu could master the use of this skill, he would really be able to build a fortress city in a barren wasteland.
"Well, I already have Knochen, so I get the feeling that I won't need to be able to do that."
The Bone Fort Knochen, who was a combination of a large number of bones joined together, was a mobile fortress that could fly through the sky. It was currently at the southern end of the marshlands, acting as a base for the Dark Night Knights' Order led by Isla.
"For now, I'll inspect how much Mana is consumed based on the properties and amount of matter I use this on… but before that, I'll try to see if I can fix the resurrection device," Vandalieu said to himself as he left the Job-changing room.
The Sub-Dragon monsters that inhabited the Class Dungeon, Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah… that were now referred to as dinosaurs, fled in fear of the sphere of flesh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
This sphere of flesh was not the one found on the paws of animals such as dogs or cats. It was an enormous, spherical lump of flesh.
Note: The word referring to the pads on the paws of dogs and cats is "flesh sphere" in Japanese, so there's a kind of pun here.
It was closing in on the dinosaurs and mowing down the fern trees in its path. Even though the dinosaurs were Dungeon-born monsters that were more ferocious than regular monsters, they couldn't help but to instinctively flee.
And numerous arms and legs were protruding from the side of the sphere's surface, kicking against the ground to propel itself forward.
"FAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
It was even letting out the loud laughter of a woman from somewhere.
Even a tyrannosaurus rex was fleeing.
However, tyrannosaurus rex monsters were Rank 4 monsters. They would be classified as small-fry in Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah, a Class Dungeon.
That tyrannosaurus rex was running towards a roaring Rank 5 Huge Triceratops. Already ready for combat, it charged forward, sending the carnivorous tyrannosaurus rex flying as it attacked the lump of flesh.
"FUHAHAHAHA! My advance does not stop! Spiral Attack!" shouted a woman's voice with extremely strange pronunciation.
However, at that moment, the arms protruding from the lump of flesh began moving quickly, rapidly accelerating the lump of flesh's speed of rotation!
It collided head-on with the charging Huge Triceratops that was over ten meters in length, and it was the dinosaur that was sent flying.
The Huge Triceratops, whose horns and cervical vertebrae had been crushed from the impact, as well as several tyrannosaurus rexes that hadn't managed to avoid the collision, were scattered around the surroundings.
If one ignored the size of the objects, this scene resembled a number of animals being sent flying by a car in a traffic accident.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Sieg!"
Note: Sieg is the German word for "victory."
Having gotten the better of the collision, the lump of flesh stopped rolling and the upper body half of a woman suddenly popped out from its top surface. Its surface was the same color as the rest of the lump of flesh, and it didn't have eyes or a nose, but from its outline and form, it was clearly the upper body half of a tall woman.
The half-woman put her hands on her hips and held her chest out in triumph.
But the upper half of a person with a neutral form that was difficult to distinguish as male or female called out to her from the side.
"Valkyrie, cheat."
"Wha-?! Enma, why?!
"Because 'sieg' isn't understood in Lambda."
"No way! We gained Experience Points and our level went up, so it's fine, right?! OK?!"
"No. Because it's a game where you have to use only Lambda words. Berserk, hold Valkyrie down."
A flesh-colored golem appeared and squashed Valkyrie back into the sphere of flesh.
"Nooo!" Valkyrie cried. "I'm weak! Hard work is -"
"Valkyrie, it was in our previous lives that you were the weakest among us after Pluto. In this world, we all share the same Attribute Values."
While the lump of flesh… Legion, was increasing its level, gaining skills and changing Jobs, it had become able to separate its thoughts to some extent.
Now, Valkyrie, Enma and the rest of the Eighth Guidance, as well as the 'Gazer' Minuma Hitomi, were able to speak separately.
However, unlike in cases where a body was shared or cases of split personalities, their memories were completely shared.
To make a comparison, it was like there were terminals called Enma and Valkyrie connected to the server known as Legion. That was the state that Legion was in.
In this state, Legion was playing a game where only the use of Lambda's language was allowed as it leveled, in order to learn Lambda's language which was based on Japanese (to be more precise, Earth's Japanese rather than Earth's).
"Jeez… that hurts."
Enma suddenly looked behind him to see that three tyrannosaurus rexes seemed to have thought that this was an opening and taken the opportunity to start biting and shredding Legion's flesh.
Three tyrannosaurus rexes, shredding and chewing the meat with their sharp fangs and powerful jaws. Ten humans' worth of flesh had already been eaten.
However, Enma didn't feel a great deal of pain or much of a sense of danger.
"Status… I see, so this is the phenomenon that occurs due to the existence of Vitality," he said as he calmly cast the no-attribute spell Status and checked his own condition.
Legion had lost around one million of its ten million Vitality. In other words, Legion had taken one million points of damage.
Despite that, Enma and the rest of Legion didn't feel much pain because when considering the whole, this damage was small.
The creatures of Earth or Origin wouldn't merely feel some pain if tyrannosaurus rexes were to bite into them and shred a mouthful of flesh. Humans and other large mammals would die. Whales and elephants could survive depending on where they were bitten, but they wouldn't be able to remain calm; they would let out screams of pain.
However, in Lambda, where Vitality… the concept of Hit Points from video games existed, the size of wounds was determined by the damage amount in relation to the maximum Hit Point total.
"With a large amount of maximum Hit Points, even the bites of tyrannosaurus rexes are just like scratches…" Enma murmured.
"… Still, we're being eaten too much," said Valkyrie as she and Izanami's upper bodies emerged next to him.
"We'll heal soon though," said Izanami.
The two of them had vague forms, and Izanami in particular was unrecognizable at first glance as there were no tumors on her body.
"If you think that way, then attack back. I'm still not good at fighting," Enma told them.
"Alright," Ereshkigal whispered.
In the next moment, one of the tyrannosaurus rexes that had been one-sidedly biting into Legion died as invisible fangs pierced the flesh of its head, sending blood spraying out.
Enraged by the sudden counterattack, the other two tyrannosaurus rexes tried to sink their fangs into Legion once more. However, one of the fragments of flesh remaining between one of the tyrannosaurus rexes' teeth exploded, sending its head flying away.
The last tyrannosaurus rex was ended by a martial skill from the short sword in one of Legion's hands, Quick Draw, which slashed through the arteries in its throat.
New flesh rose in the wounds where Legion's flesh had been gouged out, returning to normal in no time.
"Well then, shall we eat to make up for our exercise?"
"You mustn't eat the skin, Magic Stones or the bones, Jack."
"I know, Hitomi-chan."
The arms and legs extended from Legion's sides, squirming and eating the meat of the dead Huge Triceratops and tyrannosaurus rexes as if assimilating it into itself.
Pauvina and the others, who were taking a break, ate their obentos as they watched this spectacle from a distance.
"Hey, what does 'sieg' mean?" Pauvina asked.
"It means 'victory,' Pauvina," said a lump of flesh with the form of a girl… the personality of Pluto, which had separated itself from Legion.
"By the way, what kind of state are you in when you're using Long-range Control?"
"Unlike the Undead… Vandalieu, we can't share our memories when we're separate."
"Hmm. Maybe it's because unlike Van, who is one person who splits himself, you were originally different people?"
"I think so. For us, it's more like 'Separation' than 'Long-distance Control.'"
"Eat," said Eisen.
"Thank you, Eisen-san," said Pluto.
"All of the nearby dinosaurs are all going to Legion, so it's really easy for me," said Braga. "Could it be that you guys are delicious?" he asked Pluto.
"Please don't eat us, Braga-san."
Legion had formed a party to level up with Pauvina, Rapiéçage, Yamata, Privel, Eisen and Braga, who had followed them to act as a scout.
"Separation…" Rapiéçage groaned.
"Separation…♪" Yamata sang.
The two of them seemed to be imitating Pluto and trying their Long-range Control skills. They had detached their assorted parts from themselves and were moving them around.
Rapiéçage had already possessed the Long-range Control skill, but… Yamata's nine beautiful women's upper body halves were simply crawling around on the ground, creating quite the ghastly sight.
Incidentally, Eleanora had been with them until yesterday to make sure that Legion, Pauvina and the others could pass through Borkus's Sub-Dragon Savannah, but seemingly having decided that they would have no trouble with the upper and middle floors, she was leveling in the B-class Dungeon, the Scaled King's Nest, starting from today.
It seemed that she had been dissatisfied with the Experience Points that she could earn from a Class Dungeon as a Rank 9 Vampire Viscount.
… It might have been fine for her to fight Mikhail, the Rank 10 training dummy, but since she couldn't defeat him with her current fighting abilities, even though she would be able to polish her skills and improve her ability greatly, she wouldn't gain any Experience Points whatsoever.
The Zombie heroes Zandia and Jeena were acting separately as well. This morning, thanks to the Surgery skill of Isis who was a part of Legion, Zandia and Jeena had been restored to a state that was extremely close to how they had been while alive. Now, they were training with Borkus in the B-class Dungeon, Barigen's Fall Life-Mountain, in order to become accustomed to their Undead bodies. It seemed that they intended to once more battle their fated enemies once they were sufficiently accustomed to their bodies.
"Gochisousama! Now then, let's get going. By the way, can you pass through the stairs after becoming that big? Won't you get stuck?" Pauvina asked Pluto as she started picking up Yamata's upper body halves that were lying on the ground.
"Big?" repeated one of Yamata's upper body halves.
"Stuck?" said another.
Pauvina couldn't be blamed for wondering this; Legion's main body had grown to be more than ten meters in diameter.
"They've changed their size using Size Alteration, so it's fine," said Pluto.
"Oh! Size Alteration is so nice. I want to learn it too. If I did, I could go and play at Braga and everyone else's house," said Pauvina, who was around two and a half meters tall.
It seemed that she was jealous of the ability to change size at will. However, Size Alteration was a skill that only monsters could normally acquire.
"Aren't there any Magic Items or drugs that have the effect of making you smaller?" Pluto asked.
"Hmm, I don't know," said Pauvina.
"I don't know either," said Privel. "I've heard of things that make you bigger in folk tales, though. I'll ask my mother when we get back."
And so, the inhuman girls + extra party members continued their leveling for a week.
Name: Legion
Age: 0
Title: None
Rank: 6
Race: Legion
Level: 87
Job: Enormous Meat Sphere Warrior
Job level: 0
Job history: Apprentice Mage, Mage, Apprentice Warrior, Warrior, Meat Sphere Warrior
Passive skills:
Mental Corruption: Level 7
Composite Soul
Magic Resistance: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Special Five Senses
Physical Attack Resistance: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Form Alteration: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Super-speed Regeneration: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Superhuman Strength: Level 3 (NEW!)
Mana Enlargement: Level 1 (NEW!)
Enhanced Vitality: Level 6 (NEW!)
Strengthened Attribute Values: Consumable Meat: Level 3 (NEW!)
Active skills:
Limited Death-Attribute Magic: Level 10
Size Alteration: Level 5 (LEVEL UP!)
Commanding: Level 3
Surgery: Level 5
Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
Short Sword Technique: Level 3 (LEVEL UP!)
Fusion: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
Charge: Level 5 (NEW!)
Chant Revocation: Level 1 (NEW!)
Parallel Thought Processing: Level 5 (NEW!)
Long-distance Control: Level 3 (NEW!)
No-Attribute Magic: Level 1 (NEW!)
Mana Control: Level 2 (NEW!)
Surpass Limits: Level 1 (NEW!)
High-speed Travel: Level 1 (NEW!)
Strengthened Regeneration: Consumable Meat: Level 3 (NEW!)
Unique skills:
Rodcorte's Divine Protection → Lost due to moving circle of transmigration systems!
New good fortune of reincarnation → Lost due to moving circle of transmigration systems!
God of Origin's Divine Protection
Zuruwarn's Divine Protection
Ricklent's Divine Protection
Gazer: Level 5
Job explanation:
[Zombie Maker]
A Job for those who create Zombies from corpses. It is a Job with the effect of drastically reducing the time and Mana required to create Undead, including Zombies (but especially Zombies).
The bonuses provided to Attribute Values is slight, but the Job makes the creation of large quantities of Zombies possible. But Vandalieu has always been capable of creating Zombies without taking any time, and he has always possessed a vast amount of Mana.
Thus, by changing Jobs to Zombie Maker and reducing the time and Mana it takes to create Zombies, he has acquired the unexpected side-effect of unconsciously turning corpses in the area surrounding him into Undead.
Job explanation:
[Meat Sphere Warrior]
A Job that can only be acquired by a member of an intelligent race whose body, which must be over a thousand kilograms in mass, is comprised entirely of meat. Naturally, Legion is the first to acquire this Job in Lambda.
This Job greatly increases Strength, Stamina and Vitality, and grants large bonuses to the Unarmed Fighting Technique, Charge, Rapid Healing (Legion possesses the superior skill to this), Size Alteration and Cooking skills. Also, this Job makes the owner's meat more delicious, and grants the ability to make delicious meat.
If the level of the Meat Sphere Warrior Job reaches 100 and the owner's body of meat surpasses 10,000 kilograms in mass, it becomes possible to change to the superior Job, Enormous Meat Sphere Warrior.
Note that the above recorded Status is after Legion has finished leveling.
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Chapter 129: The heroes comforting the king with their bodies
The consciousnesses of the two had been in a foggy state for two hundred years. They were in a state that was far worse than being drunk on alcohol.
When drunk, one would think foolish thoughts and express emotions more intensely than usual, but these two had not even been capable of these things.
During those two hundred years, they had been unable to recall their memories of their past, nor could they move their bodies freely.
Zandia and Jeena had felt a sensation that was as if there was a transparent object separating themselves from their memories and bodies.
Their sense of time had been vague, so it was only later that they learned that around two hundred years had passed.
However, the end of that vague sensation came to an abrupt end.
When they met a Dhampir boy with a crimson and a bluish-purple eye in a dimly-lit place. Behind him were a group of extremely familiar people.
They felt a strong sense of disgust at the commands that were issued to them by an old man's voice, which they had never had any doubts about before.
Once they and the other Zombies were captured and taken away to a place where they received 'surgery,' they became at ease.
They felt surprised at how much they had been suffering and how normal suffering had become to them, and they regained their memories and their ability to think to some extent.
They were surprised when they became aware that they had died and become Undead. They were dumbfounded when they learned that their comrade Borkus had become a Zombie, and that Princess Levia, who was supposed to have escaped to the Hartner Duchy, had turned into a Ghost.
And then they learned that the destroyed Talosheim had been restored, and it was expanding beyond its scale of two hundred years ago.
"Your fury was terrible back then. You were howling terrifying things, like how you wanted to go to the Hartner Duchy right now to castrate all of the Hartner family's men and put an end to their lineage. And when the kid tried to stop you, you just picked him up and tried to take him with you," said Borkus.
"That's right, Zandia. You're the Second Princess, so you have to have some self-control."
"No, Jeena-nee, I just shouted that I wanted to kill them all. The one who shouted that they'd castrate the Hartner family's men and then tried to carry His-Majesty-kun away in an iron-claw grip was you!"
"That other time was pretty incredible…" said Saria.
"It was great that Luciliano-san got stepped on when he was trying to peek at your surgeries. Nobody got angry at the peeking incident, either," said Rita.
"He traded a rib for that, and it was Jeena who started running around wearing only a single surgery gown," said Zadiris. "In a way, being seen would have served her right."
The Living Maid Armors Saria and Rita, as well as Zadiris who for some reason was accompanying them just because her name was similar to Zandia's, were roasting some tare-soaked meat as they nodded to themselves, recalling the events that had occurred several months ago.
Jeena had stepped on Luciliano and tripped over, and this had given Vandalieu the opportunity to grab her and calm her down. Given this achievement and the fact that he had given up a rib for this, Luciliano had been forgiven for attempting to peek.
"I'm already unemployed, so it's fine," said Jeena. "The Church is being well looked-after by Nuaza-kun… and everyone except that bearded person apologized, and even His-Majesty-kun forgave me, so it's fine, right? He said, 'When I first learned the truth, I instinctively felt a desire to start killing everyone without discrimination, so I know how you feel.'"
"You're right about the latter, but unemployed, you say… Nuaza-kun is clinging to you and begging you to return to the Church every time he sees you," said Zandia.
"It just means that my tendency to do things at my own pace hasn't become any better after I died. Well, he'll give up soon."
After that, Zandia and Jeena, who had become even weaker after the contraptions that the Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon had added to their bodies were removed, began leveling right away in order to regain the strength that they had possessed while alive.
However, they struggled more than they had expected. Jeena had been an A-class adventurer, while Zandia had been B-class. They had defeated Earth Dragons and Stone Dragons without any problems before, but perhaps because their bodies had been tampered with by Gubamon, unlike Borkus who had become an Undead on his own, they couldn't move their bodies as they wanted, and they couldn't control magic well, either.
Even if they could apply an iron claw on a Vandalieu who was standing still in a daze, it was difficult to land their weapons and spells on moving monsters.
Because of this, at first, they had needed to fire their spells haphazardly and apply numerous full swings of their halberds to defeat Goblins.
Though they were feeling depressed, saying that even novices holding weapons for the first time wouldn't struggle this much, they had steadily learned how to move their new bodies by facing monsters and Mikhail, regaining the strength they had possessed while alive.
It was this morning that things had changed for the better. Legion had acquired the Parallel Thought Processing skill, and one of its personalities, Isis, had carried out surgery that allowed Jeena and Zandia to regain their strength.
"Someone who has already modified Undead before trying to modify the bodies of a race that they've never seen before is quite terrifying, though," said Jeena.
"Isis's 'surgery' is half death-attribute magic, so please don't worry about it. And I don't have any pride when it comes to that," said Vandalieu, who didn't consider himself to be a doctor even if he did conduct surgery. "Come now," he said to the two of them, beckoning them towards Legion, whom they were staring at in surprise.
"Well then, I won't decline," said Isis.
"The ones who want to decline are us!"
"Don't say that. I have a lot of hands with this body, so I have the feeling that I can do more incredible surgeries than I did when I was alive."
"Ah, I've just thought of something urgent I need to do, so see you later~"
"Jeena-nee! It's unfair for you to just fly away with the upper half of your body!"
"And it's my first time messing around with Undead that aren't humans… I really want to play around so badly that I can't help myself," Isis said.
Zandia gave a shriek of terror. "You just said some really scary words, like 'mess around' and 'play around,' didn't you?!"
"Uwah, I forgot that this flying mechanism can't go too far away from my lower body! Don't mess around with my cross section!" Jeena shouted.
"Well then, me and my apprentice who won't learn his lesson will be waiting outside," said Vandalieu.
Luciliano gave a shriek. "They are already conscious, so let me watch, Master!"
As a result of the surgery that seemed like fleshy tentacle-play, Jeena and Zandia succeeded in rapidly regaining their strength, though a few short steps of what it had been while they were alive.
"In Origin, any corpse could become capable of moving like it did while it was alive, but… I suppose because this world is different, it's not just the laws of physics, but the properties of magic that are different as well," said Isis.
It seemed that the 'surgery' that could be conducted by Isis could only restore full strength for Undead who were below Legion in Rank.
Vandalieu had never consciously thought about it before, but it was possible that such things were different for different worlds. Or perhaps because he had been unable to bring his experiences from Origin to Lambda due to Rodcorte's curse, he had relearned everything from scratch on his own to adapt to this world.
The 'Gungnir' Kaidou Kanata had also reincarnated from another world and used magic, but he had never voiced any particular flaws in his magic before encountering Vandalieu or even afterwards.
It could simply have been that he hadn't had enough time to notice the flaws during his short third life, or perhaps Rodcorte had made adjustments to all of the reincarnated individuals except for Vandalieu so that no flaws with their magic would occur.
It was likely the latter.
Leaving that aside, thanks to the tentacle play that messed around with their organs and muscle structure, and the hard work that they had put in, Jeena and Zandia, who had originally been Rank 6, had regained their strength to Rank 8.
And now, they were leveling in Barigen's Fall Life-Mountain.
"It really is tough for the two of us to fight Rank 9 monsters without Borkus. By the way, this Dungeon Card is really convenient. Even the Dungeons have been relocated to be closer to the city; His-Majesty-kun is amazing, isn't he?" said Zandia, who appeared to be in her mid-teenage years or even younger despite actually being in her late teenage years, as she held up a flame in the left hand that had been restored by Vandalieu.
Her brown skin looked as if blood had returned to it; she looked like a normal beautiful girl… though she was two meters tall because she was a Titan.
"Right! Bocchan is amazing!" said Rita.
"Yeah, his Mana is amazing, he's the hero of Talosheim, he saved us, he saved Nee-san and he saved everyone who was turned into slaves by the Hartner family. I don't know how we're supposed to return the favor," said Zandia.
That was what Vandalieu was to Zandia. She knew she was no longer a princess but a Zombie, and Vandalieu was her master, so she had wondered if she should treat him as such. But Vandalieu had told her, "Even Borkus calls me 'kid,' so you can just call me by my name."
Vandalieu had restored the destroyed nation while she remained in captivity, and he had only received the gratitude she had been able to give as what was left of the royal family.
"So, will it be marriage, then?" asked Saria.
"That is a little early, is it not? Does engagement not come first?" said Zadiris.
"Wow, congratulations!" said Rita.
"… Yeah, that's what surprised me most. Or rather, what still surprises me the most," Zandia said, glaring at the happy-looking Rita and the others through half-closed eyes.
The thing that surprised her most was the fact that she had become a marriage candidate for Vandalieu.
"I mean, I am a part of the royal family, the Second Princess. Talks of marriage into the Hartner family started when trade with the Hartner Duchy first began. I've never really had anyone I liked while I was alive, and I thought that my marriage was something that was going to be decided by my parents."
She didn't have any dissatisfactions with the fact that Vandalieu would marry not only her, but Levia in the future, as well as numerous other wives, though this hadn't been formally decided yet.
Talosheim had always had people with wild ideas about the relationships between men and women, and considering the state of the new Talosheim, it was actually necessary for every race to take multiple wives.
Connections of blood and marriage had the effects of strengthening bonds between the inhabitants of nations, particularly between those who lived in tribes.
As a member of the royal family of Talosheim, which had been isolated for a hundred thousand years with an absence of the concept of democracy, Zandia thought this way.
Bonds and religious faith were needed to gather the people into one.
And she had no complaints with Vandalieu himself. The fact that he was small couldn't be helped since he was a member of another race, and he would be growing a little larger in the future. She knew that he had even taken care of the nails of her left hand, treating it with care.
He had rescued her from an evil Vampire, if one ignored the fact that he had done so after death. The romance was perfect.
That was why she didn't really have any dissatisfaction with the fact that she had somehow become a marriage candidate for him. She didn't, but -
"The problem is, I'm a Zombie! Why?! Why would he marry a Zombie?!" Zandia exclaimed.
"What problem is there with being a Zombie?! We're Living Armors as well!" said Saria.
"We'd have a big problem with succession!"
What Zandia viewed as a problem was that because she was a Zombie, she couldn't see any point in a marriage.
"Well, I understand what you want to say. You mean that there is no continuation of the lineage, do you not?" said Zadiris.
"That's right. Undead can't have children, unlike actual members of Vida's races like Vampires and Ghouls. I understand political marriages can have various purposes other than having children, but… His-Majesty-kun is the king of Talosheim, right? He has statues of himself standing all over the city, right? There isn't anything for him to gain by marrying me, right…?" Wanting to sigh but realizing that there wasn't any air left in her lungs, Zandia inhaled so that she could let it out again in a sigh. "I understand a marriage with Nee-san. She can do housework, she has a tolerant mind, she seems to expose more of her body than she did when she was alive, she burns, and with her curves, especially her chest, she was said to be one of Talosheim's two leaders along with Jeena-nee. Compared to that, I have confidence in my magic, but that's all. My body is skinny, and -"
"Ah, saying any more about that would be bad for Zadiris-san," Rita pointed out.
"Eh? Ah, sorry, don't take it personally!" Zandia said hastily.
"Having that said to me hurts more… Rita, I will be confiscating this," Zadiris said.
"Aaaah! My serving of meat!"
"Ignoring your curves, isn't it fine? Whether you marry him or not," said Jeena, who had finished eating her meat at her own pace, speaking to Zandia in a light-hearted tone.
"Jeena-nee, don't say it so simply…"
"I mean, it's just a matter of whether you'd be a bride or a mistress, right?"
"No! You're wrong, Jeena-nee!"
"Am I? I intend to give him my body and my heart, though. It seemed that His-Majesty-kun liked my body, too," said Jeena, who had been praised as the 'Saint of Healing,' as she pointed at her plentiful chest - no, at her powerful biceps brachii muscle and her ripped (actually ripped at some point between her upper and lower body halves) abdominal muscles.
Jeena was in her two hundreds, marriageable age for a Titan woman, but her clothes and armor were kept to a minimum other than her enormous shield.
For the Titans, their own bodies were beautiful things that they were proud of, and especially for Jeena, who was a saint of Vida, the goddess of life and love, showing her vitality was a part of the Titan race's faith.
Being an Undead Zombie didn't change anything about that.
"Children and that sort of stuff is fine, isn't it? It seems that His-Majesty-kun has a long lifespan, so they're probably not that necessary," Jeena said.
"That's true, but…" said Zandia.
"I actually want him to marry me. It comes with delicious food, Saria-chan, Rita-chan and Zadiris-chan."
"Wow, you go too far as usual, Jeena-nee."
Jeena, a tall woman even for a Titan with a height of 2.7 meters, had a preference for those smaller than her.
"Oh my, how embarrassing," said Saria.
"I have grandchildren; do not refer to me using -chan. Despite my appearance, I am soon to be three hundred years old," said Zadiris.
"If you include the time I was alive, I'm already over four hundred," said Jeena.
They shared this foolish conversation, occasionally looking towards Borkus, who was completely still and silent as if he were an ornament.
Borkus had been brooding frequently ever since they entered the Dungeon. He behaved normally during battle, but he was always like this while the party was resting.
"What do you think? I was sure that you'd tell Zandia to 'let the kid take you,' but it feels unpleasant to have you sitting there quietly like an ornament," Jeena said to him.
"Unpleasant, you say… well, it really is unpleasant," said Zandia.
"That's a word that explains what kind of person Borkus is to you two," said Rita.
For Jeena, Borkus was a reliable companion and, at the same time, a mischievous father. To Zandia, he was a father-like figure and a man who was something of a friend to her.
And to Borkus, Jeena was someone he considered to be his innocent younger sister and Zandia was something like another daughter, someone he still needed to look after. As such, they were unreserved when interacting with each other.
"You don't need to call me unpleasant," Borkus groaned. "I'm feeling unpleasant too, from using my head so much."
However, Jeena, Zandia and the rest of the women were merciless.
"Worrying about things isn't called 'using your head,'" Jeena said.
"That's right; it's easy for our sense of time to become dull as Undead, so if you think for a long time, there won't be any end to it," said Zandia.
"If you have no appetite, please give us your meat," said Rita.
"Well, how about saying what is on your mind? Though I can imagine who you want to consult regarding what," said Zadiris.
It seemed that everyone had seen through Borkus's troubles. Perhaps realizing that his thoughts showed on his face even though half of it was a skull, he pressed a hand against his forehead on the bony side.
However, confiding in and asking for help now was like betraying Zandia and Jeena, and betraying the old Talosheim. Nobody could blame him for acting unlike himself and being troubled.
"Then I'll say it, but… I want to release that bastard Mikhail from his role as a training dummy. It's hard to say that he should be acquitted and made a free man, but I was wondering if he could at least be able to open his mouth and be an instructor of the training grounds… so, I was thinking of asking the kid…"
The thing that Borkus was troubled over was the betterment of the treatment of Mikhail, the Divine Spear of Ice, former hero of the Mirg shield-nation, responsible for the destruction of the old Talosheim.
Currently, Mikhail had multiple safety devices made from the Demon King's fragments as well as explosive devices buried in his body. He was being used as a training dummy with no freedom over his movement or speech. The only thing he could move of his own will were his eyes.
It was far too tragic a fate for a hero, but to the citizens of the old Talosheim, he was the detested enemy who had destroyed their nation.
And to Borkus, Mikhail was his own killer.
"But, well, he's an Undead now, and he can't return to his homeland. He probably doesn't have any faith for Alda left now, and he regrets what he did while he was alive. It's not like I feel sorry for him, but… I was wondering… if he could at least be like a criminal slave… or… something…" Borkus said in disconnected words, gazing at Zandia and Jeena with a dull look in his already lightless, dull Undead eyes.
Mikhail was the one who had killed Zandia and Jeena as well. After Borkus was killed, Jeena had been stabbed to death, and Zandia's left hand had been sliced off before she fell in the same way.
After that, Mikhail and his companions had challenged the Orichalcum Dragon in order to destroy the goddess Vida's relic, where his companions were wiped out. After losing his precious spear, Ice Age, he barely escaped alive, only to run into the Vampires who were gathering the three corpses.
Although he managed to repel the Vampires, his wounds were deep, and he had died because he was not treated in time. After that, his corpse had been stolen and added to the Pure-breed Vampire Gubamon's collection of Undead heroes.
"Hmm… well, isn't it fine?" said Jeena.
"I suppose I'm okay with it as well," said Zandia. "I would be reluctant to have him acquitted, but I don't really care if he's going to be a criminal slave."
The two of them approved of Borkus's idea.
"Are you serious?! We're talking about that Mikhail, you know?!" Borkus shouted.
"This is surprising," said Rita. "You made a sport of him so violently in the training grounds, so I thought your guts were still boiling with anger at him."
"My guts aren't boiling, they're cold. You want to see them?" said Jeena.
"I wouldn't go that far," said Borkus, placing his hand firmly on Jeena's head before she could float the upper half of her body away.
It seemed that Jeena was proud of the fact that she could float with just the upper half of her body and couldn't resist any opportunity to show it off.
"So, why?" asked Zadiris. "The boy once told me that it is difficult for Undead to forgive those that they once hated."
"It's not really that I've forgiven him, but I was satisfied after having defeated him once. I think Jeena-nee feels the same way," said Zandia.
When Zandia and Jeena faced Mikhail in the training grounds before, when they had still only recovered a small amount of their power, they had stood at a distant spot and fired spells at him endlessly until he fell.
Mikhail, unable to leave a certain area or even ready himself for combat unless someone approached him, had simply stood there and received their spells. Jeena and Zandia had chosen this method of fighting him because they knew that he was a training dummy and there had been measures taken to ensure that he would not prioritize protecting himself.
And after defeating him once, it seemed that their pent-up resentment towards him had faded considerably.
"And you're livelier than we are, Borkus… and it's not like the old Talosheim was destroyed by Mikhail alone. I think that the city would have been destroyed in the end even if Mikhail hadn't participated in the battle," said Jeena.
"What?! Are you saying that we'd have lost to the Mirg shield-nation's army without him there?!" said Borkus.
"Yeah. Though I think we'd have lasted longer."
By the time Mikhail joined the war, Princess Levia and the others had already evacuated Talosheim, and the remaining Borkus and the others had been relying on the walls to hold the city.
At the time, they had been waiting for reinforcements from the Hartner family, but they now knew that the head of the family at the time had been an Alda fundamentalist who had decided abandon Talosheim and rob the national treasures that were carried by Princess Levia and the other evacuees. Thus, the battle to hold the city had been one where reinforcements would never arrive.
With that being the case, the Titans would have had to resist until the Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire behind it gave up, but would that have been possible for Talosheim back then?
"Impossible. Definitely impossible," said the Second Princess clearly.
"That's not true! If Mikhail wasn't there, we could have won!" Borkus protested.
"So, do you resent Mikhail, or do you wish for his treatment to be improved? Which is it?" Zadiris asked.
It seemed that Borkus could endure being defeated by a powerful enemy, but the idea of losing to an army of nameless soldiers was something that his pride would not allow.
"I understand how you feel, but it can't be helped. Back then, we did have Barigen and Ogbahn with us, but we only had one wall and far less people capable of fighting than we do now. And the Dungeons were all outside the city, so we couldn't secure food and supplies while holding the city," said Jeena. "Of course, I think we could have killed ten or twenty thousand enemy soldiers, but I think we would have been defeated in the end."
In Lambda, where there were many with what would seem to be superhuman physical abilities from the point of view of someone from Earth, the tides of battle were often changed by the presence of a single person.
However, there was a limit to this.
If the Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire backing it up were to continuously throw their fighting resources into the battle… if they let their religious fanaticism take over and kept sending in soldiers and knights, closing their eyes to the large number of casualties, Talosheim would likely have fallen even without Mikhail.
If it came down to it, the Empire would have sent its own high-class Adventurers or used some other equivalent trump card.
"That's how it is, so my hatred for Mikhail personally is… well, I get the feeling that it's fine now. He spent two hundred years being petted by that creepy old man as well, so he's suffered a lot as well," said Zandia.
"Yeah, if I had to pick, I'd say I hate that Gubamon and the other Pure-breed Vampires more. And the Hartner family, the Mirg shield-nation and the Amid Empire. We think they all deserve to be castrated," said Jeena.
"Jeena-nee, don't just include me in your opinion."
There were several individuals in Talosheim who were from the Mirg shield-nation, such as the general Chezare, who was essentially acting as a prime minister, as well as the lieutenant general Kurt, but it seemed that Jeena and Zandia had no intention of taking out their hatred on such individuals.
Incidentally, in the old Talosheim, where the goddess of love and life Vida was worshipped, castration was considered a punishment equivalent to execution or even worse. It was such a severe sentence that it was more of a symbol of fear; it had never actually been carried out in a hundred thousand years of history.
Vandalieu had already handled the punishment of the Hartner family to some extent, so it might have been painful for the men of the family.
"Ngh… Well, if that's your reason…" Borkus muttered.
"For some reason, the conversation turned towards convincing Borkus-san at some point. But I think the most difficult thing is convincing Bocchan," said Saria.
"The boy is the type to hold a grudge, after all," said Zadiris.
The next day, after returning from Barigen's Fall Life Mountain, Borkus requested for Mikhail to be treated as a criminal slave rather than a training dummy, with the same resolve as one intending to leap off a precipitous cliff. Vandalieu looked at Borkus with even less life in his eyes than usual.
The surroundings were littered with gold, silver, iron, copper, Obsidian, Mythril, Adamantite, gemstones as well as minerals and metals that Borkus and the others hadn't seen before, in lumps of varying sizes.
Vandalieu was sitting on a small mountain of gold, right in the center.
"To be more specific, you want me to restore Mikhail's freedom to some extent and remove the self-explosive devices?" he said.
"Yeah. Is that too much to ask?" said Borkus.
Vandalieu had a strange, intense aura about him, while Borkus seemed a little timid.
Behind them, Zandia was talking to a worried Darcia.
"He seems a little wild; did something happen?" Zandia asked.
"About that, he acquired the Golem Creation Job, and with the effect of the Job's skill, he became able to create all kinds of things from nothing, but -"
"What a minute?! Create from nothing, you mean the gemstones and precious metals that are lying around?!"
"Th-that's right. Also, Vandalieu has created Mythril, Adamantite, Death Iron and Dark Copper as well," said Darcia, looking like she didn't know why Zandia was surprised at that part, but sounding a little proud nonetheless.
"Wow…" Zandia breathed as she looked around at the minerals and metals scattered around their surroundings once more. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say, but that's amazing."
"Isn't it~? But you know, he couldn't create Orichalcum," Darcia added.
"No, it would be too incredible if he could," said Zadiris. "If I recall, that is one of alchemy's three holy grails, the only one that the boy has not achieved."
Vandalieu, who had become a Golem Creator, had tried creating all kinds of materials. Obsidian, marble, ordinary iron, copper, silver and gold, gemstones, as well as aluminum, which was known as aluminium in this world. And then he had tried the materials that he had invented himself - Death Iron, Dark Copper, Life Gold and Spirit Silver. He had been able to create all of them.
The amount of Mana required differed based on the quantity and type of material he was creating, but it cost less Mana to create large amounts of materials that already naturally existed in large quantities. Thus, he could create iron more easily than copper.
Huge amounts of Mana were needed to create Death Iron, Dark Copper, Life Gold and Soul Silver, which didn't exist naturally. So much that it was far more efficient to create iron or copper and then use the ordinary method of pouring death-attribute mana into the metals and casting Inanimate Aging.
And creating materials directly into the shapes of tools needed even more Mana. It was simple to make sharp points, but creating iron knives or brilliantly-cut diamonds needed several times or even several dozen times the ordinary amount of Mana.
Creating a well-forged Death Iron sword or Dark Copper suit of armor could cause even Vandalieu, who possessed over one billion Mana, to run out.
Overall, it could be described as an ability to create matter from nothing, albeit very inefficiently. If Vandalieu's Mana pool wasn't so great, it wouldn't have been very helpful at all.
It would be better to obtain normal metals or precious metals from Dungeons or even purchase them.
However, Vandalieu had wanted to be able to create Orichalcum. Either that or gain the ability to precisely change and control the shape that Orichalcum took.
However, he had not gained either of these abilities simply by acquiring the Golem Creator Job.
"He's become able to change the shape of Orichalcum far more freely than before. But he said that he was unable to completely repair the resurrection device," said Darcia.
Zandia looked in the direction that Darcia was looking, and saw the pool that had once contained the quivering lump of flesh, the base of Legion's body, that had been created as a result of activating the incomplete resurrection device. The pool had been filled once more.
It was likely that Legion would fuse with it once they returned from leveling.
"So, he's depressed because of that," said Zandia.
"A resurrection device… it's hard to make possible what even the goddess herself couldn't do," said Rita.
"Yes," Saria agreed.
The magical resurrection device that could revive the dead if completed. Even with such a device before them, Zandia, Rita and Saria felt no desire to come back to life.
This didn't apply to just them; almost none of Talosheim's Undead felt any desire or attachment to the idea of coming back to life. Though it might have been different for ordinary Undead.
"But Borkus-san came at the perfect time, so I'm sure he'll feel better now," Darcia said.
Meanwhile, Vandalieu was requesting something of Borkus. "Well then, please move as I move. Put strength into your muscles and put on a side chest pose." And then he made a strange movement.
Note: This is that bodybuilder's pose to show off the chest muscles. You can Google it if you want.
"Yeah, side chest?"
"Side chest~"
Borkus moved in the same way as he was told, and Jeena was joining in for some reason as well. Unlike Vandalieu's thin body, they had powerful muscles that swelled with a creaking sound.
Borkus and Jeena were made to perform more bodybuilding poses, one after another. Partway through, they became aware of Vandalieu's intentions and made their movements smoother and more charming.
"… What should I do? I feel an even higher hurdle to climb than needing a nice body," said Zandia.
"Apparently surgery to transplant muscles cleanly is harder than breast surgery," said Saria.
"We don't even have bodies for transplanting to, anyway," said Rita. "How about you, Zadiris-san?"
"No, well, the boy should have interests in things other than muscles… I wonder if he does?"
"I-it's fine, everyone! Vandalieu will go through puberty soon!" said Darcia.
After enjoying Borkus and Jeena's physical display for a while, Vandalieu replied calmly. "Alright. Well then, let us treat Mikhail as a criminal slave."
"Oh, are you alright with it?!" Borkus exclaimed.
"That was unexpectedly quick," Zadiris remarked. "I did not think that he would really object, but did he not have the tendency to not forget past grudges?"
Every seemed surprised that Vandalieu nodded and agreed to improving Mikhail's treatment (though he would still be a slave).
However, Vandalieu didn't really mind. "It's true that I have the disposition of not forgetting grudges. But I don't have any direct grudges towards Mikhail. I do resent him for doing horrible things to Borkus and everyone else, but if Borkus himself says it's alright, then I think it's fine," he said.
Grudges were nothing but emotions, after all. Unjustified resentment existed; grudges were not things that could be held and discarded through logic and reasoning.
If that was possible, the world would be a more peaceful place.
For that reason, Vandalieu didn't resent Mikhail particularly fiercely. In fact, in terms of evil acts committed, those of Isla, who was currently in the Dark Night Knights' Order, were far greater in number and severity.
That was why Vandalieu didn't mind if Borkus and the others wanted to allow this.
"But I can't acquit him," Vandalieu said. "There are still people who resent him, after all. Well, there are numerous other candidates to act as a training dummy in the training grounds, so I'll leave it to them for a while."
The Undead heroes stolen from Gubamon. There were some among them who were members of Vida's races, like Zandia and Jeena, but there were more heroes from Alda's side. Some among them had hunted even more of Vida's races than Mikhail to increase their fame.
Neither Vandalieu nor the citizens of Talosheim intended to punish those whose names they didn't even know for sins they had committed in the past. However, there were some who had regained their sense of self and were tormented by feelings of guilt, causing them to be in even more confusion than before they had regained sense of self.
It seemed that Vandalieu was thinking of having them serve as training dummies for a certain period, giving them punishment so they could feel less guilty.
He had even tried to lessen their feelings of guilt directly with Mental Encroachment, but they had become too deranged and this had been mostly ineffective.
"That's how it is," Vandalieu said. "By the way, tomorrow marks the passing of one week. Have you finished leveling?"
The day of departure for the Noble Orc Empire was upon them.
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